Braves clobber five home runs, clinch series against Twins

The Atlanta Braves continue to tear through Major League Baseball, winning their 19th game of the month in a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.

With the win the Braves are now 52-27 on the season, while the Twins fall to 40-41. Atlanta maintains their 6.5-game lead in the NL East.

Minnesota struck first in Tuesday's game, capitalizing on an Orlando Arcia error to score Carlos Correa to score the first run of the night.

Atlanta responded in a big way in the bottom of the inning, with Ronald Acuña Jr. hitting a leadoff home run to tie the game at 1-1. The 406-foot shot was his 18th of the year. Two batters later, Austin Riley hit a two-run homer to left-center to push the Braves in front 3-1. Riley's now hitting .270 for the month of June.

Staying on trend, Sean Murphy hit his 13th home run of the season two batters after Riley, pushing the Braves lead to 4-1.

Atlanta's home run parade continued in the second inning, with Michael Harris II hitting a 438-foot homer to right to extend the Braves' lead to 5-1. Harris has been on a tear this month, with a .373 this month and an OPS over 1.000.

The 40/40 chase for Acuña continued in the 2nd, with Atlanta's MVP frontrunner hitting his second home run of the night for his 19th of 2023. This is the first time Atlanta has had five home runs within the first two innings of a game since May 28, 2003 against Cincinnati.

Bryce Elder didn't have his best stuff at times tonight, and despite four errors from his defense, he held the Twins to just four hits, while walking four batters and striking out four.

Atlanta will go for the series sweep on Wednesday, with the first pitch scheduled for 12:20 p.m. ET from Truist Park.